Hey there! I’m (finally) back with a little reveal of Teddy’s Nursery! He’s only almost two years old now… so I figured it was about time? 🙂 We had most of the nursery done when he was born, but for the crib. Teddy got a crib upgrade (from the pack n’ play) when he was about seven months old (four months in our room in the rock n’ play and three months in the nursery in the pack n’ play before that!). Poor little dude (HashtagSecondChildProblems. HashtagCheapParents.). We originally thought Emerson would be out of her crib by the time Teddy transitioned to the nursery (she was almost 2.5 years old) but she wasn’t really showing any interest in climbing out and slept great in there, so we didn’t push her to move to her twin bed (even though it’s already in her “big girl” room).

The theme for Teddy’s nursery is more or less BEARS (mixed in with some arrows and adventure)! It just kind of made sense, since we were calling him “Gummy Bear” since the first ultrasound at 8 weeks. Then we picked his name (Theodore) and the bear theme was pretty much decided for us (Teddy Bear!).

Hey guys! I’m back with a little nursery update. All of a sudden I’ve got the nesting bug, big time! With about 10 weeks to go (say what?!?!!) until the Gummy Bear gets here, I’ve got it bad. All I want to do is get the nursery ready for him to be here! But, first comes busy season (which ends in a few weeks, thank goodness) and then comes rearranging most of our house to make room for the new kiddo. The guest room will be moving to our converted garage/storage room, Em’s big girl room is moving to the former guest room and the Gummy Bear’s nursery will be in Em’s current nursery. Lots of rearranging…

Since Gummy Bear will be moving into Emerson’s old nursery, we are keeping the wall color the same (Martha Stewart Sea Glass, which is now discontinued…). I love that color so much and think it will go well with some navy, gray and wood accents instead of coral and yellow.

Running with our Gummy Bear nickname, I want to do a Bear/Be Brave/Adventurer type theme for Gummy Bear’s nursery. I don’t think it will be super theme-y, but I’ll start there and see how it goes!

Here’s some of the details of the little mood board I put together.

1. Navy and White Striped Curtains – I’m planning on making some of my own with some IKEA curtains I found last week. Hopefully much cheaper and not too hard to do!

2. Swivel Glider – For Emerson’s nursery we got my Mom’s old wooden rocker from when she first had me (and we still have it). But, it wasn’t super comfy, so I splurged for an upholstered glider. We actually put it together today and it’s pretty comfortable!

13. IKEA Hemnes Navy Dresser – We picked up this guy recently. I would have loved to re-do another dresser like I did with Emerson’s room, but I’m not up for the task this time around! Definitely taking the easy way out! But I’m glad that I found this one that came in blue. It will still add a little character to the room.

That’s it! Who knows when we will actually have time to get all this done (we’ll have about six weeks post-busy season and pre-baby). All I know is I can’t wait to put it all together! And mostly, I’m so excited for this little Gummy Bear to come join us!!! 🙂

I’m back with yet another nursery project! I couldn’t share this one with the rest of the nursery reveal since we didn’t reveal Emerson’s name until she was born. But, I definitely had this project done ahead of time! I’m pretty sure I accidentally left the letters out when my mom stopped by one day so she found out the name ahead of time… oh well. 🙂

Supplies:

Paper mache letters from Hobby Lobby (around $2.50 each)

Acrylic craft paint (for the sides) and brush

Mod Podge

Foam brush

Scrapbook paper in coordinating colors

First, I painted the sides of each letter an off white.

Next, I placed the scrapbook paper face down on the table and turned each letter backwards and upside down and traced out the letters. Then, cut out each letter.

Then, I applied (in small sections) mod podge on the paper mache letters and then placed the paper on top. Once the bottom layer was on, I applied a thin and even layer of mod podge over the top of the scrapbook paper to seal it and protect the paper. The mod podge dries clear and gives it a glossy coat.

Such a fun and colorful way to personalize a room. Especially for people that love typography as art like me!

The day is finally here! I know you’ve all been waiting and I’m so excited to share with you the big nursery reveal! I had so much fun putting the room together (check out my original inspiration) – so many DIY projects and colorful accents. I LOVE it so much! The only thing it’s missing is our Little BK (hopefully she’ll be here in TWO days! EEEEEK!)!!!

This is seriously my favorite room in the house (and the only one that’s finished). It’s not a big room, but the layout came together really well and everything just fits. I love our little reading nook and can’t wait to read Little BK a ton of fun books! My Mom and I made the yellow Pom Pom Curtains.

One of my favorite projects was the DIY Pouf Ottoman. It’s heavy as an elephant, but so comfy on top and will be perfect for my tired feet when I’m rocking BK to sleep.

The rocking chair is a special piece – my Dad bought it for my Mom when she was prego with me! It’s rock solid and is actually really comfortable. So special to have a family heirloom piece in the room! My Mom sewed the cover for the rocking chair cushion – cushion and fabric both from IKEA.

So many great books – can’t go wrong with Dr. Seuss and Calvin and Hobbes (the hubby’s favorite). She’s also fully stocked with headbands… no one will ever doubt that she’s a girl! Ha!

Another special piece – the ballerina figurine was given to me by my Daddio. I used to be in dance up until 5th grade and after each recital he would get me a ballet figurine. I have a whole collection, but didn’t have enough room to display them all in the nursery. The wagon calendar was given to me by my Grandma at my baby shower and I DIY’d my anthropologie inspired book covers.

One of my favorite pieces is the yellow metal bike! It used to be my Mom’s and was a dark brown color. Since she knows I love bikes (even though I don’t even have one right now – what’s up with that?!) she spray painted it bright yellow for me and it looks so amazing up on the wall!

Are you still with me? 🙂 Here’s the other side of the room – not as exciting, but closet (I still get a kick out of all the miniature baby clothes – so cute!) and hamper. I made the garland out of felt I had leftover from the Hot Air Balloon Mobile (one of my other favorite projects!) and some white ribbon.

I do have one more DIY project I need to share, but not until after she’s born since it spells out her name. We picked out a name, but aren’t sharing with anyone yet (not even our families!). I’ll be sure to share when she gets here! 🙂 The crochet blanket on the crib was my baby blanket made by my Grandma.

One of my thriftiest finds was the lamp I found at Target in the clearance section. Love it so much – almost as much as the 20 week ultrasound picture of my sweet baby girl! I also got the table runner at Target on clearance which matched perfectly with the dresser and will be great to keep the top from getting scratched up.

That’s it! I hope you like it as much as we love it! 🙂 Now we just need Little BK! Come on sweet girl!

Well, this is the second time I am writing this post… stupid computer! Another DIY nursery project for you today. When my mom was over a couple weeks ago, she helped me with this ruffled crib skirt. We used this tutorial and it was pretty helpful. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a straight crib skirt or a ruffled one (I’m not a ruffles person), but decided to go for the ruffles to make the room a little more feminine and add some texture.

This project only cost $10 too – it was the IKEA Vivan curtains to the rescue again! It’s such a cheap way to get some plain white fabric. The fabric is thin, but worked for the crib skirts since we were doing the ruffles anyways.

Ruffled Strips – 9 pieces that are 2.5 times the width of the sides and six inches high. Three strips for the long side that measured 130″ and six strips for the short sides (three each) that measured 70″ long.

After making all the cuts and hemming the edges, it was time to ruffle. This was the hard part… and we realized too late that my sewing machine had an actual “ruffling” attachment. Bummer. Instead, my mom used the technique of making three basting stitches in a row along the top of each strip leaving the end threads really long.

After separating the top three threads from the bottom three, you can pull on the top three and scrunch the fabric together to create the ruffles (making sure to pull hard, but gently so you don’t break the thread). It works like a charm, but takes some time to make the ruffles even.

Then we pieced the ruffles onto the side panels starting with the bottom ruffle and making sure all ruffles lined up. We kind of just made it work… nothing too scientific here.

It was a labor of love, but we got it done! I like how the white ruffles are not too loud but bring some texture and girliness to the room. So glad it’s done! And if I never see a ruffle again, I’ll be very very happy.

I’m pretty much done with the nursery and I’m hoping to share pics with you guys by the end of this week or early next week!

PS – we are in SINGLE DIGITS! Only 9 more days until she is here (hopefully!)

My mom came over last weekend to help me out with my last nursery sewing projects. We ended up sewing almost all day long! It was a lot of work, but I am so in love with the end results!

Turns out all our projects were IKEA hacks… the first was a plain seat cushion that my mom made an awesome cover for. I don’t have any step by step since my mom is amazing and just did her thing. 🙂 It turned out so great though. The fabric is also from IKEA – they actually have some really cute (and really cheap) home decor fabric.

The next project was super easy. We basically just added a row of yellow pom poms to the edging of some Vivan IKEA curtains ($10). So simple, yet I think it adds such a subtle and playful effect to the room.

I love how both turned out and I am so grateful for my mom’s help! She is a master seamstress! Next up is the dreaded ruffle crib skirt we made… (also from an IKEA Vivan curtain!).

We’ve all seen and loved the colorfully patterned Anthropologie Penguin Classic books like Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, Alice in Wonderland, etc. The style has changed recently to more bright and colorful patterned book covers and I always thought they would look great in a nursery. Instead of dropping $18 a pop on the whole collection, I figured I could recreate a similar look by wrapping some of my vintage books with some fun scrapbook paper.

Remember when you used to have to put book covers on all your school books? I tried to use the same method to make mine and it worked pretty well. In case you forget, here’s the steps I used.

Step 1: Get your old books (if you don’t have any you are willing to sacrifice, hit up Goodwill – they are usually only about $2.50 each!)

Step 2: Pick your paper.

Step 3: Measure the paper and fold around the outside of your book. Fold the long end sides under and use double sided or masking tape to secure to the inside flap of the book. Make sure when you are taping the paper to the inside, you have the book completely closed so it will be flush on the outside cover.

Step 4: Before you fold under the top and bottom edges, make sure to make two small cuts on both the top and bottom to allow for the binding.

Step 5: Fold down the top and bottom edges and attach to the inside flap with tape.

Step 6: Cut a little triangle on the binding flap and open the book to the middle of the pages. This should leave a little gap in the binding. Fold the binding flap into the gap.

That’s it! You now have yourself some Anthropologie inspired vintage books! I love how they look in the nursery.

Remember the coral dresser I redid for the nursery? Here’s a little sneak peak of it set up in the nursery… or at least how it was the other day. 🙂

For all purposes it was done, but I wanted to add some drawer liners for a little unexpected surprise of pattern and color. Luckily it was a pretty easy project!

I grabbed some coordinating wrapping paper from Target and used a foam brush and mod podge I had on hand.

Next I measured one large drawer and one smaller drawer and cut out the wrapping paper squares accordingly. After making sure the squares fit in each drawer, I folded half of the paper back. Then I spread mod podge on one half of the bottom of the drawer with the foam brush. Mod podge dries pretty quickly (thus, why I did each drawer in two parts) and I only used a thin layer. Once it was spread on one half, I used a dry towel to smooth the wrapping paper over top of the mod podge. I did the same on the other side and then propped the drawer up in front of the fan to help it dry quickly.

The part that took the longest was the mod podging, just because there were so many drawers. I decided not to do a top coat of the mod podge because it already felt pretty smooth and durable.

And that was it! Ready to hold some super cute onesies, burp cloths, and baby shoes!

I’m back with another nursery DIY project! I feel like I haven’t jumped too far onto the chevron bandwagon yet, until I realized the two main areas I’ve used it in the nursery – the rug and this chevron pouf! It’s so bright and playful for a nursery, how could I not?

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make the chevron, especially using the tutorial from Better Homes & Gardens (find it here). I tried to take pictures as I went, but forgive me if I’m lacking a bit… the tutorial is really great though, so maybe just use that?

I found the fabric at JoAnn’s and it’s actually outdoor polyester fabric. It’s really thick and I think it will be easier to keep clean than regular home decor fabric. I love the colorful chevron pattern and it works perfectly with the nursery colors.

Supplies:

Once I cut out the paper pattern and taped it all together, it was super easy to cut out the eight fabric pieces to sew together. They recommend using a liner, so I used an old sheet. I also used polyester outdoor thread. It’s super heavy duty and I figured it would hold the whole thing together better in the long haul.

I tried my best to cut the fabric consistently so I could line up the chevron, and I think I did a pretty decent job. Next I just sewed all the pieces together – two sections of the four pieces each (check out the tutorial as I didn’t take pictures… I was on a roll!).

After sewing all the pieces together and leaving a big gap at the top, it was time for stuffing! The pouf is actually really large and to stuff it solely with fiberfill would be crazy expensive. The tutorial suggested using old towels/jeans/rags, so that’s what I did. Two birds with one stone since I didn’t have to bring all that stuff to Goodwill anyways! Boom.

Once I got a good base with my towels and jeans (beware – it gets heavy!), then I started stuffing with the fiberfill along the outside to give it good shape and then along the top (about the top two inches) to make it soft enough to sit on as well. Then I just sewed it up as best I could (and not very pretty since I knew it wouldn’t show once the top octagon piece was on).

The hardest part was sewing on the top part… I didn’t use the suggested method in the tutorial because I didn’t like the zig zag look. Too obvious and reminded me of a baseball or something. Instead, I just used a blanket stitch as best I could around the exterior of the top only (not down each side stitch like in the tutorial). It was a pain! The angle is so awkward and it definitely took me a while, but I am happy with the result. It’s not too noticeable, and that’s what I was going for.

That’s it! Actually an easy project until the end top stitching and for much cheaper than you could find on Etsy! The only thing is that when you use the towels/jeans/etc for stuffing, it gets heavy very quickly. I can’t even lift it up by myself! It’s OK because I don’t think I’ll be moving it all that often and I want it to be sturdy anyways. I can’t wait to use it in the nursery as a foot rest while I’m rocking Little Miss to sleep at 2am (except maybe the 2am part…).

Can’t wait to share the rest of the nursery with you soon! Just need to get some pictures up on the walls! 🙂

I whipped up this super easy hot air balloon art for the nursery. I already had the frame on hand courtesy of the clearance section of Target and used my favorite nursery as inspiration (from Craftiness is Not Optional).

Supplies:

– Scrapbook paper in coordinating patterns

– Frame

– Double sided tape

– Craft glue (I used gorilla glue)

– Pen

Step 1: Cut out your balloons and baskets. I thought I had a circle punch, but couldn’t find it so just traced a spool of thread and cut each little circle out by hand. I cut two circles of each pattern I wanted. I just free handed the basket and then used one as a template to cut out the rest in the brown paper.

Step 2: Figure out where you want the ballons to be (spacing, etc.) on your background paper (I just used a white piece of cardstock for the background). Then use the double sided tape to stick one of the balloons of each pattern on the background paper. Stick the baskets a little below the balloons.

Step 3: Grab your pen and draw on your balloon strings. I freehanded, but you could use a ruler too, to be extra straight.

Step 4: Glue on the top balloon piece. I first took the top circle for each balloon and bent it a little bit so it curved up. Just enough to give it a little dimension. Then I applied a thin strip of gorilla glue to the middle of the bottom circle and applied the slightly bent circle to give it the 3D effect.

Step 5: Frame it up! After letting it dry for a good 24 hours, I put it back in the frame and hung that baby up.

Total time: about 15 min (plus drying time)

Total cost: scrapbook paper was probably a couple bucks

This was such an easy and fun project! I love how it turned out and think it will look great in the nursery, especially with the complementary hot air balloon mobile.

I’m thinking of spray painting the frame white before I hang it in the nursery, but for now I’ll leave as is. One more nursery project down!